More baggage handlers to face action on drugs trade

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A drug syndicate that used baggage handlers to smuggle cocaine
through Sydney Airport planned to bring in at least 100 kilograms
of the drug in suitcases, a Sydney court heard yesterday.

The court was hearing three charges of supplying a commercial
quantity of cocaine, and unlawfully obtaining more than $180,000 in
cash found in a Maroubra home, against Maroubra waste disposal
manager Robert Pavan, 56.

A Qantas baggage handler has been stood down and Qantas chief
executive Geoff Dixon has warned that more handlers will face the
same fate.

At a Sydney Central Local Court hearing for Pavan, one of 15 men
charged over the alleged racket, documents were tendered containing
information from a police informant, referred to as Tom.

"Tom provided further information that the syndicate planned to
regularly import more suitcases containing large quantities of
cocaine," the documents said.

"Subsequently, evidence was obtained during the investigation
that confirmed that the syndicate planned to import at least 100
kilograms of cocaine using the suitcase method."

It is alleged a briefcase containing 9.9 kilograms of cocaine
was smuggled through Sydney Airport on October 8 last year in
exchange for $300,000.

Mr Dixon said some baggage handlers had been under scrutiny for
six months.

"We expect to stand more people down but that will be when we're
confident that we have the necessary information," he told ABC
radio.

The Transport Workers Union, which represents the baggage
handlers, said its members wanted corrupt workers out now.

"There is no doubt the baggage handlers want to ensure that this
issue is dealt with very swiftly by both the company and the
police," state secretary Tony Sheldon said.

Members did not want workers at the airport who were involved in
drug smuggling, he said.

NSW Police Minister Carl Scully said Qantas and the Federal
Government needed to do more to catch corrupt baggage handlers.

Airport employees should be screened in the same way as
passengers, Mr Scully said.

The documents tendered during yesterday's hearing also pointed
to a second syndicate.

They alleged that Tom told police he provided Pavan with 25
kilograms to 35 kilograms of cocaine from August 2004, worth
$145,000 a kilo.

He said the drugs were from a batch of 200 kilograms he sold for
a second syndicate, also allegedly headed by Shayne Desmond
Hatfield, the man named as ringleader of the primary syndicate, and
wanted men Leslie Robert Mara and Michael Nicholas Hurley.

It is believed Tom is police informer RI 719, first revealed in
documents tendered to Central Local Court during a bail application
for another alleged syndicate member, former Macquarie Bank
director Ian Robert Chalmers.

Pavan was refused bail and ordered to reappear in the same court
on June 29.

· Five men have been arrested in Sydney and Hong Kong
after more than 115 kilograms of heroin was seized in South
Australia.

The heroin, which had a street value of more than $60 million,
arrived in Melbourne from China in February in two shipping
containers that were listed as carrying plastic chairs, the
Australian Federal Police said.